Kazakhstan expands oil flows to key Russian port

Kazakhstan increased oil shipments to Russia’s Black Sea port of Novorossiysk by 27% in August compared with the previous month, sending 460,000 tons, KazTransOil confirmed.

The country’s national oil pipeline operator told Sputnik Kazakhstan that 360,000 tons of oil were shipped via the route in July.

Meanwhile, Kazakhstan sent 200,000 tons of oil to the Russian port of Ust-Luga in August, down from 286,000 tons in July.

KazTransOil uses two main routes to transport Kazakh oil to export terminals in Russia.

Under the main northern route, crude from major fields, including Kashagan and Tengiz, is transported through KazTransOil’s pipeline network to the Russian border via the Atyrau–Samara section. At Samara, the oil is transferred to the pipeline system operated by Transneft and transported to the Sheskharis oil terminal at the port of Novorossiysk.

The company also operates a multimodal route via the Caspian Sea. Oil is loaded onto tankers at the port of Aktau and transported to Makhachkala, where it is transferred into Russia’s pipeline network and pumped via the Makhachkala–Tikhoretsk–Novorossiysk route to the final marine terminal.

By Vafa Guliyeva